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For World's Oddest-Looking Antelope, Signs of a Comeback

An adult male saiga in the Torgay region of Kazakhstan. The animal is making a comeback.

Photograph by Klaus Nigge

Part of our weekly "In Focus" series—stepping back, looking closer.

With its tubular, bulbous nose, it may look like a character from a Dr. Seuss book or the bar scene in Star Wars.

But don't be fooled by its droll appearance: The saiga antelope is one of the animal world's great survivors. (See video: "Ice Age Antelope Under Threat.")

Saiga (Saiga tatarica) are about the size of a small goat—males weigh on average 90 pounds (41 kilograms) and females around 60 pounds (27 kilograms)—and live in the steppes, the arid grasslands that encompass parts of Eastern Europe and most of Central Asia.